Howard Johnson changed the landscape of American restaurants

Howard Johnson built a coast-to-coast network of eponymous restaurants and motel franchises that fed the wanderlust of mid-20th-century North Americans.

BILL DALEY

Howard Johnson built a coast-to-coast network of eponymous restaurants and motel franchises that fed the wanderlust of mid-20th-century North Americans.

In so doing, he transformed Howard Johnson's into a cultural phenomenon known to millions for its signature orange roofs, "tender-sweet" fried clams and 28 flavors of ice cream.

"Every chain restaurant you see today is a direct result of Howard Johnson," said Mike Butler, who is manager and part-owner of the Howard Johnson's in Lake Placid, N.Y., one of the last two HoJo's restaurants in existence. "He was a man ahead of his time. He was the first to have turnpike restaurants, and the roofs were orange so travelers could see them a mile away. He was the first with kids' menus and games, and the first to package his most famous items for retail. Any franchise restaurant has something Howard Johnson pioneered."

Born in Boston in 1897, Johnson got his start in 1925 when he took over a drugstore in the Wollaston section of Quincy. As The New York Times noted in Johnson's 1972 obituary, business boomed when he bought the ice cream recipe of an "elderly German pushcart vendor." The ice cream was far richer than anything else on the market because it had twice the butterfat and used all-natural flavorings and colors.

"It was the best ice cream ever made," said Butler. "He used the finest ingredients. Everything was top-notch."

Johnson began building his ice cream business, opening stands along the nearby beaches. He had 25 restaurants along Massachusetts highways by 1935, the Times reported. While Johnson franchised the restaurants, he kept firm control of the food and the food quality.

Among those helping him: a young Jacques Pepin, who would go on to become one of America's most prominent chefs, cookbook authors and television cooking show hosts. The French-born Pepin refers to his time with Howard Johnson as his American apprenticeship.

"He was always going forward, taking chances. He was always enthusiastic and as generous with his spirit as with his money," Pepin recalled.

Howard Johnson's restaurants offered travelers and locals alike a familiar setting and menu, convenience and, for the thirsty, a cocktail if they wanted it.

"The whole concept of Howard Johnson's and its formulas is antithetical to the concept of road food," said Michael Stern, who brought needed attention to the nation's mom-and-pop restaurants as co-author of such books as "Roadfood." Yet he has fond memories of HoJo's.

"They did it with a certain amount of style," said Stern, noting no one in Howard Johnson's heyday would ever have dismissed the restaurants' fare as junk food.

"It seemed to have a quality of, if not gourmet or delicious, of being sort of well-bred. It was what a WASP aunt would serve for dinner. You knew you were getting something of decent quality that was predictable."

Yet that lack of surprise eventually spelled trouble as times changed. Pepin wrote in his 2003 autobiography, "The Apprentice: My Life in the Kitchen," that Howard Johnson's lost its raison d'etre — reason for being — after the death of its founder.

"He was a true American hero with American spirit," Pepin said. "Everyone gravitated around him, even if they didn't know who he was. He had a magnificent presence."

Chef Pepin worked for Howard Johnson in the 1960s developing and refining some of the chain's most popular dishes. Pepin's autobiography contains this chowder recipe. "Although HoJo's clam chowder recipe was made in 3,000-gallon amounts and canned, it was quite good. I reproduce that taste at home when a bit of Howard Johnson's nostalgia creeps in," Pepin wrote.